Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained that the Pentagon is a “gargantuan, labyrinthine bureaucracy” with 30 layers of staff under the secretary. And John Lehman explained: “With so many layers and offices needed to concur on every decision, it now takes an average of 22½ years from the start of a weapons program to first deployment, instead of the four years it took to deploy the Minuteman ICBM and Polaris submarine missile system in the Cold War era.”

I've seen it first hand get worse and worse.

Here are some more budget details:These 80 Programs Would Lose Federal Funding Under Trump’s Proposed BudgetFirst note the graphic showing the overall transfer from social/State Dept/EPA programs to Defense. The budget is short (admittedly “skinny”) on complete details except for the programs Trump wants to expressly eliminate. Scroll down to see the 80 programs being cut. By in large they are social services, jobs creation and environmental protection programs. Such a compassionate man .

I know this is just an opening salvo - Trump likes to negotiate by first staking out the most extreme position.

Comparing to Bush’s and Obama’s first budget.

Informed by Data.Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.

Since I am convinced that one of the main goals of the present administration's focus on Defense and Homeland Security spending is to increase the fear level of all Americans (both those who fear the Sharia-wielding Mexicans and those who fear Trump), and since I am convinced that the present administration has no interest in helping the poorer portions of its constituency, I see absolutely nothing to be encouraged by in that graph.

Trump made it plain from the start that he intended to CUT the cost of government, traditionally bloated by humongous waste and fraud, demonstrated almost daily in the media, especially in the DOD, which nevertheless has degenerated inordinately under Obama and has to be rebuilt, never mind the recently exposed crimes by military officers…nothing new under all administrations. Just as welfare was drastically reformed under Clinton/Gingrich in the 90s (people put to work instead of staying on the dole), it must be reformed now, especially with the claim of under 5% unemployment rate. This seems harsh in the short term but will pay off long-term. For instance, school meals for the disadvantaged was designed to make them successful academically but the program didn’t work. Most of their families were likely already on food stamps and all the other many subsidies that made their lives not as disadvantaged as claimed. Their learning was not affected, mostly because they had little family support, that single-mom thing, often the result of ecstatic hanky-panky and absent fathers, who took no responsibility for their own offspring. The money sunk in after-school programs was actually to finance child/care, baby-sitting for parents, working or not. Education is strictly a state responsibility and the feds should get all the way out of it. Genuine need should be addressed but handouts to layabouts should be stopped. I live next-door to a section-eight rental property, so I’ve seen some of this stuff up close and personal, including all the evictions and law enforcement presence.

"President Trump's budget is morally obscene and bad economic policy," declared Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "It will cause devastating pain to the very people Trump promised to help during the campaign. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when 43 million Americans are living in poverty and half of older Americans have no retirement savings, we should not slash programs that senior citizens, children, and working people rely on in order to provide a massive increase in spending to the military industrial complex. Trump's priorities are exactly opposite of where we should be heading as a nation."

Informed by Data.Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.

Agreed. And there will be those who recall their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic who will put two and negative thirteen together and draw a conclusion about who is the enemy. Which may solve the problem but will probably just make it worse.

The budget, like virtually everything else the Trump administration has done thus far, is yet another example of appalling, inept, stupidity. What has become clear is that the Trump administration is exactly what I said it would be when he first started running, a rich man put in place to use the power of government to strip the middle class and working class of the last vestiges of its prosperity, divide up the spoils and hand it all over to the rich. That's exactly where this is all headed. Trump, and most of his surrogates, believe that they've tapped in to the most ignorant, uninformed group of Americans as supporters, and it's almost a game for them to see how ridiculously stupid they can be, and still have people smile and wave at them. If they somehow manage to corrupt and interfere with the FBI and CIA investigations into their collusion with the Russians over the election, if the country survives without getting nuked, or robbed blind by 2018, the voters will make a change.

As I get more details I will post more. Note that they are assuming the Trump Tax Cuts which give most breaks to those with incomes over $413K/year and raises those at the bottom.

And realize that the Trump/GOP plan will also do away with the Earned Income Tax Credit which essentially eliminated income taxes (not payroll taxes) from the lower 47% of working people (which is about $37K/year according to the Income Percentile Calculator). That means all people with less than $37K in income per year move from 0% tax to 12% tax. That is a real killer for those in those terrible straights. Incredible cruelty especially since there is no movement towards more jobs (Obama’s record better than Trunmp’s so far) and no consideration of a min wage hike (except in progressive cities).

Since the Middle Class (30-70%) makes between $23K and $59K/ year (using the above calculator), only those middle class between $37K and $59K will get a tax break and that only of 3% or $1444K/year (on average). Meanwhile the top income earners (>$488K/year) get a tax cut of 6.6% or at least $32,208/year.

All this is first order (I have not taken into account the changes in deductions/exemptions). But the story is the same - increased taxes to the lower income class, very little middle class tax cut, and big cuts to the high class.

This should not be tolerated. Know the FACTS.

Informed by Data.Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.

So, when he says this will not help the rich, and that they are looking to help the middle class and job growth, he is lying through his teeth. What's new? He's done that all his life. He has such contempt for the intelligence of his own core followers that he thinks all he has to do is say it, and they will believe it. With them, probably. With the 65% of the electorate that now do not fall in that category, it will be a much harder sell. The attached article from Fortune, a very conservative-oriented magazine, shows his tax plan adding an additional $1.5 trillion to the deficit. Combined with this kind of budget planning, and if the Republicans go along with this, they will set records as the party of "tax and spend."

The sad reality is that the GOP masses so idolize Ronald Reagan that they have never realized that supply-side economics can only benefit the wealthy. When will the masses care enough to read a bit of economics again.

"God will never be less than He is and does not need to be more" (John Koessler)

Dave Roberts wrote:The sad reality is that the GOP masses so idolize Ronald Reagan that they have never realized that supply-side economics can only benefit the wealthy. When will the masses care enough to read a bit of economics again.

When the tax breaks go primarily to the corporations and the wealthy, a larger percentage of the money gets squirreled away into savings accounts and more profits that are not reinvested (due to a lack of product buyers) to make the economy (GDP) grow. If the money goes to those who are more likely to spend it, the demand for products increase, corporations produce more, they hire more, more new ventures are started, tax revenues increase and the annual deficits are lowered. Creating jobs also helps. That happened during the Obama stimulus. We need another such stimulus and our aging infrastructure, increased accountability agents, education, and renewable energy are the places to create those jobs as they help us in the future.

The Trump tax cuts and non-action on infrastructure are a recipe for another recession and it exasperates our unfair wage inequality (increasing poverty angst and the rebellion that naturally follows).

Yes Dave the masses need to read more and should not reflexively believe the serial liar that resides in the WH/Mar-a-Lago/Trump Tower/Trump golf courses or his economic PR lackeys. I would suggest Back to Work by Bill Clinton. It is short and cheap. Or if you don’t like/trust Bll Clinton, get and read the only slightly more technical Back to Full Employment by economist Robert Pollin (161 short pages) {better book on subject than Taking Economics Seriously}. Note that though we are back to nominal “full employment” at 4.2% unemployment, there are many not searching for work (and therefore do not cunt as unemployed) and the lower third of wages paid are not “livable wages”. Thus available demand is still not what it needs to be to expand the economy.

Informed by Data.Driven by the SPIRIT and JESUS’s Example.Promoting the Kingdom of GOD on Earth.